A SECOND-half brace to skipper Steve Maselli was in vain as Morwell Pegasus bowed out of the FFA Cup at the hands of Eltham Redbacks at the weekend.
The state-league south east division three side overcame the higher tier Horsemen 3-2 at Doncaster in the fourth round Victorian conference tie.
Missing four key defenders for the Cup encounter, along with 2015 best and fairest Mat Luak, an undermanned Pegasus struggled against the well-organised Redbacks.
Last season’s leading club goal scorer John Kuol was also reduced to a bit-part 20 minute act in the face of upcoming surgery.
Pegasus coach Ivan Bajo said it was far from his side’s best football but any game time was valuable in the lead up to next month’s state league season opener.
“Absolutely, I thought it was a good game. They ran us around a lot… it’s all good game time as we try to do what we do best,” Bajo said.
“The whole approach to the season and the Cup is just trying to play (good) football, if results come, they come. If they don’t, they don’t.
“To be honest they deserved to win, they were the better team on the day; we didn’t create enough chances, we didn’t really keep the ball and we didn’t transition much.”
Down 1-0 at half-time, Pegasus equalised after the break through Maselli before Eltham all but put the game to bed with two consecutive strikes.
Maselli reeled back a second and Pegasus was unlucky not to have a third after the linesman’s flag disallowed a Morwell goal.
Teenage goalkeeper Liam Andersen was superb between the sticks on a hard day for Pegasus.
